More updates

We've been a little busy lately, and I've been feeling more like napping than blogging or doing chores most days, so things (including updating this blog) have been piling up on me recently. We are all doing fine, though, and are welcoming some summer weather around here. It is fun to have nice, sunny days!

Elijah is growing up so quickly lately. He's learning a lot and continues to surprise me with the things he picks up. We are starting to think more and more about how to help him through the major transition of becoming a big brother - if anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it! He is turning into a big helper (when he wants to be). He is really doing well at putting his own books and toys away at the end of the day (with encouragement) - after dinner he knows it's time to "cwean up," and he loves to put his laundry in the hamper. He's also been helping me pick things up off the floor lately, as I'm having more and more trouble reaching! It took a while for E to learn to say "thank you," but now that he can say it, he's using it very well! He's also quite good with "welcome," but we're still working on using "please."

Last week, Patrick spent a couple of days in Boston doing interviews for his department's open positions for next year. Elijah and I did fine on our own, but I did have to resort to putting E in the pack-n-play with toys and his Bob the Builder video so that I could get a shower one morning. Elijah spent the afternoon loading the pack-n-play with everything he owns plus an oven mitt. He was quite proud of himself! (until he realized that he couldn't get any of his toys back out ...)

Now what do I do?

Elijah is still really enjoying his gymnastics class - he asks almost every day if we're going, and then tells me all the things he loves to do there. He's getting a little calmer now that he's used to being there, and therefore is a little better about not plowing over anyone who may get in his way. He's still having a little trouble with some of the skills they work on at circle time, but he's making progress and mostly enjoys it now, even if they do make you sit in one place for five whole minutes. We only have a couple of classes left now, but it sure has been fun!

Here's a little video of some of Elijah's favorite little books - Car Colors and Trains. The first one is supposed to be teaching colors, but Patrick has also been teaching Elijah the names of the cars in each picture as well. Now we have fun watching for these cars (in addition to white buses and school buses) when we're out driving.